Now that we're through the holiday season, Operation Red Nose, too, is through its service.

Statistics released by Operation Red Nose show increases in all areas of service in Portage la Prairie in 2016. The total number of rides was 497, up from 473 in 2015. The number of volunteers spiked up to 283 from 239 a year prior. There were 87 teams that offered rides around Portage in 2016, up from 72 in 2015. And donations to Portage la Prairie Red Nose totalled $10,733.30 -- second only to Winnipeg in the province.

"I think we had a marvellous year. This tells me people utilized the service," Operation Red Nose Portage coordinator Leo Lapointe says. "It was great to see that the people of Portage used the service and kept drinking and driving off the roads of Portage la Prairie."

The donations that came into Operation Red Nose Portage go to benefit various local organizations which volunteered to drive, including: Portage Minor Hockey Association, Portage Thunder Ringette, Portage Army Cadets and Operation HNC.

Across the province, Red Nose numbers spiked in all categories, too. The service provided 4,136 total rides in 2016, up from 3,949. There were 2,414 volunteers involved compared to 2,204 in 2015. Those volunteers combined to make 745 teams, up from 624 a year prior. And the total donations that came in to Red Nose in Manitoba: $85,528.36. That's up over $5,000 from the 2015 number of $80,140.36.